DHT Holdings said Donald Trump’s return to the White House should prove “constructive” for the VLCC sector, as it reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings.
The New York-listed tanker owner said the US election results might lead to a tightening of sanctions that could put pressure on Iran’s oil exports — which could be replaced by other Middle East producers.
And it said Trump could reverse some decarbonisation regulations, boosting medium-term demand for fossil fuels, in addition to pro-drilling policies that could lift US production and exports.
“The result of the US election leads us to expect certain policy changes that we believe will be constructive for our business,” the VLCC specialist said.
DHT, whose CEO is based in Monaco, also expressed hope for Chinese demand, which has not met expectations so far this year.
“Whilst China is deploying various inducements to its economy, we are yet to see ‘whatever it takes’ levels of economic policy changes and stimuli,” the company said.
“We do however think it is reasonable to expect efforts from China, which should revitalise the economy and lead to an uptick in demand.”
DHT reported a profit of $35.2m, an improvement on $31m in the same quarter of 2023.
That translated into diluted earnings per share of $0.22, which was better than the $0.20 expectation of nine analysts polled by Yahoo Finance.
The company delivered shipping revenue of $141m, up from $130m a year earlier. Voyage expenses rose to $48.5m from $41.2m, while vessel operating expenses increased to $19m from $18.6m.
Its time charter equivalent earnings amounted to $42,400 per day per vessel, with its spot market ships earning an average $43,700 per day.
For the fourth quarter so far, the rates for spot market vessels are $41,000 per day, with 64% of available days booked.
The results brought nine-month net profit to $127m, a slight increase from $126m a year earlier.
DHT finished the quarter with $73.8m in cash out of $1.47bn in assets.
Long-term debt stood at $408m, out of $438m in total liabilities.
